A mock court, independent of regular legal procedure, set up by
inmates (or others) to try a fellow prisoner for some alleged offense.
Sometimes these are set up merely for amusement, as diversions against the
tedium of imprisonment, and are then nothing but travesties of the legal
process.

Example:

Instead of being given a fair trial, the foreigner was 'tried' in a
kangaroo court.

Origin:

Coincides closely with the California gold rush of 1849. Perhaps in
humorous allusion to the early purpose of such courts, to try "jumpers" who,
resorting to desperate measures, seized the mining claims of others. These
improvised courts were as irregular as in today's jails, and perhaps they were
sometimes equally unfair.
Thanks to
Katie Cutie.

From a book of poems called
"King's Tragedy" by D. G. Rossetti published in 1881. It tells of an attempt
by one Catherine to save the life of Scotland's James I by throwing her
arm across a doorway to bar his enemies;

The phrase was further popularized in a 1980s Miller Lite Beer commercial
featuring ex-baseball player Bob Eucker.

In ancient times the bay tree was regarded as having great protective powers. This was due to the fact that it never seemed to be struck by lightning. Both Greeks and Romans wore its leaves as protection during thunder storms in an effort to keep the lightning "at bay". During the great plague of London many citizens did the same, in the hope that they would be spared the disease, but it didn't help.

Back when men wore hats
regularly, it wasn't unusual for them to put important things inside.
To keep something under your hat was to keep it out of sight and shown
to no one.

More probably, hats are worn on the head. "Keep it under
your hat" is just a sly way of saying keep it in your head, to yourself.

Alternative: Dates back to the Middle Ages, when the Church decreed that women were to keep their heads covered in public. During these times, women were discouraged from, and often punished for, expressing their opinions in public, particularly in regards to business or politics. A woman was, of course, free to formulate such opinions and express them freely within the privacy of their own homes but, in public, they were to keep these opinions to themselves; or, if the woman was married and deemed it important, she could whisper it to her husband. Hence, her opinion was restricted to the confines of her hat.
Thanks to Shelia Clark.

Fans in the Amsterdam pub kept their fingers crossed
, hoping that their football team would carry on to the Euro Cup finals.

Origin:

Long thought as a method to avert evil, the sign of the cross
is American in origin, used by blacks in the 17th Century. The sign was also thought to bring good luck.
Among school children, a lie told with the fingers crossed 'doesn't count'.

Appears to suggest that
one should calm down because romance is not imminent. This phrase is actually a derivation of "keep your shirt on".
It is an interesting example of how phrases can adapt to obscure the origin.

NB: This is NOT an X-rated phrase! Pecker
here refers not to the penis (as many believe), but to the lip. Pecker has been slang
for lip, corresponding to the beak (or pecker) of a bird, since the 19th Century.
The first recorded use of the phrase is British (1853): "Keep up your pecker, old fellow."

Alternative: This phrase refers to a gamecock's bill - the bird's bill (or pecker) sinking lower toward
the ground as he grows more tired and near defeat.

Before modern manufacturing
techniques, shirts, and all clothes for that matter, required a lot of
labor to make. They were more expensive than they are today.
Someone thinking of starting a fight might take off his shirt to prevent
damage. Telling someone to "keep his shirt on" was equivalent
to telling him "I don't want to fight".

This phrase has been twisted into the equivalent "Keep your pants on".

Alternative: In addition to fights, a man would often remove his shirt in preparation for a laborious task.
Thanks to Shelia Clark.

Maintaining an appearance
of affluence and wealth for the benefit of others.

Example:

In this world people don't
respect you for accumulating wealth, they respect you for spending it.
Most people who seem rich have very little wealth, they spend it all keeping
up with the Jones's.

Origin:

Jones is an extremely common
surname in the United States and in this phrase is meant to be a generic
term for the neighbors. The phrase makes much more sense when you say "keeping
up with the neighbors".

It is a common practice in suburbia for neighbors to be fiercely competitive,
and to continually try to have the nicest of everything in the neighborhood.

"Keeping up with the Joneses" was the title of a comic strip that ran
in many U.S. newspapers from 1914 to 1958 by Arthur R. ("Pop") Morand. The
strip chronicled his experiences living in suburbia.

Pigs to be slaughtered
are bled, that is the blood is drained from the body. One way this
is accomplished is to hang the pig upside down from a bar (by one foot)
that used to be known as a "buchet," a French word for it. The pig's
throat was cut or opened with a sharp spike (See "bleed like a stuck pig"),
and it would rapidly be bled. In its death throes, it would always,
always kick the buchet.

Alternative: Refers to an inverted bucket that a person who is being hung might stand
on. When the bucket is kicked out, the person is hung and dies.

Tell me who is the king
of the hill around here, so I will know who to brown nose to.

Origin:

This goes back to battlefields
of long ago. All sides fought to conquer the high ground, the hills.
This was often the best vantage point and the point of most advantage.
Whichever unit won or took the hill was likely winning.

Something that is a precursor
to failure, that will lead to future failure.

Example:

Even a hint by Greenspan
that interest rates may rise is like a kiss of death to the stock
market.

Origin:

From the fabled Mafia practice.
A kiss from the Don meant curtains for the receiver.

No doubt popularized in this country by Mafia movies, but the practice
goes back much, much further, at least to Roman days. And let's not
forget Judas kissing Jesus's cheek to identify him to the guards.

B.C. Premier's Gordon
Campbell's kitchen cabinet at home looks more organized than this
government's kitchen cabinet recommendations - especially in light
of the public's reaction to his failed attempts at privatization of
government crown corporations.

Origin:

Dating from 1832, the
original kitchen cabinet consisted of 3 friends of President Andrew
Jackson who met with him frequently for private political discussions.
They entered by the back door (perhaps through the kitchen) so as to avoid
observation. This group of advisers were believed to have had more
influence than Jackson's official Cabinet.

This phrase originated in the days of
slave gallerys. To keep the oarsmen rowing in unison, a drummer beat time rhythmically on a
block of wood. When it was time to rest or change shifts, he would give a special knock,
signifying that they could knock off.

An expression said when knocking on wood in order to keep from having bad luck.

Example:

I am sure that your tax
returns will not be audited, knock on wood.

Origin:

One theory is that it originated
in the middle ages when there were in circulation, pieces of the Holy Rood
or Cross on which Jesus was crucified. To touch one of these was
supposed to bring good luck hence touch wood for good luck.

Alternative: The Druids, who worshipped trees, especially Oaks, wore a piece of Oak
around their neck to ward off evil spirits. Hence touch wood for good luck.

Alternative: You knock on wood because of those wily Wood Sprites. In medieval
times, people believed in mischievous creatures known as sprites. Sprites
are actually spirits or ghosts who were reputed to enjoy causing trouble
and wreaking havoc in the lives of the living. Among the most mischievous
were wood sprites.

If you were to mention something good, the wood sprites would try to
foul it up. The thought was that if you knocked on the wood when
you said these things, the wood sprites would not be able to hear you because
of the knocking sound. Hence they would leave you alone.

During the early days of sailing, a ship's position was charted by marking three plotting lines on a map. The ship should be at the junction of all three but, since navigation was in its infancy, the lines often produced a little triangle. The ship was reckoned to then be in the middle of the triangle. The triangle itself was known as a cocked hat after its resemblance to the common three-cornered hat of the times. On this basis the expression originally is said to have implied a sense of uncertainty - of not knowing where you were.

Alternative: In certain forms of the game of nine-pin bowling, three pins were set up in a triangular shape. The rest were set up around and the object was to knock these down and leave the three standing. The three reminded people of a three-cornered or cocked hat.

Alternative: The cocked hat of the 18th century was merely the 16th century Puritan hat with the brim rolled up or cocked into a triangular shape. This was a dramatic change which later took on the inference of defeat.

When her boss says jump,
she says "how high", only because she knows where her bread is buttered.

Origin:

This phrase is a reference to a Yiddish folk
tale of the Wise men of Chelm.

In the tale, Chelm was a city in Poland where the people were incredibly
stupid. One day someone dropped a piece of bread; it landed butter
side up! Experience and Murphy's law tells us bread always falls
buttered side down, the wise men of Chelm gathered to ponder why the bread
landed buttered side up.

After a week the verdict was that the bread had been buttered on the wrong side.

Alternative: Dry bread can be pretty boring to eat. Bread is much tastier
with some kind of spread - butter, jam, etc. Hence the person or
place that provides your spread can enrich the bread eating experience.

After receiving poor marks on his first report card, Jason was told to knuckle down and start studying more at home.

Origin:

In the game of marbles, the knuckle has to be placed down on the ground when playing. It's an important rule of the game that the knuckle must be placed exactly at the spot where one's previous marble ended up. From this sense of strict observance of a rule comes the modern sense of earnest application.